This post is Part 2 of a 3-part series. Read Part 1 – Read Part 2 – Read Part 3

This is a photography blog, so it’s understandable that many of you skip right over the text in these posts and just look at the photos (Hi, Peter!) It’s true that nothing I can say here will tell the story of the post-ceremony festivities as well as the photos do. But just in case you have a slowish internet connection and experience a slight delay while thirtysomething photos load, I’ll give you one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems to read while you wait.

I’ll admit that outside of the bird theme, this poem doesn’t have any obvious connection to love or marriage or the photography of those things, but if you just picture those gorgeous last two lines as applying to the soaring, effervescent, playful love between Scott and Lindsey, to their launch into married life, you’d have the right idea. As for all the lines that come before those two, the eating raw worms and such- well, things like that probably happen in Felton all the time.

A Bird came down the Walk —
He did not know I saw —
He bit an Angleworm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,

Than Oars divide the Ocean,
Too silver for a seam —
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon
Leap, plashless as they swim.

This Red Bat is always ready to pitch in with the cameras for the Homeless Services Center. I had the opportunity to shoot portraits for them about a year ago, and it was wonderful to have the chance to help out with their biggest annual event: the Soupline Supper and Benefit Auction, a fabulously tasty fundraiser, held in April (yeah, I know, that was a long time ago!) at the Cocoanut Grove. This year, the event raised over $60,000, money that will go towards providing meals, transitional and emergency services, and new programs for the homeless. The Homeless Services Center also introduced their new Executive Director, Monica Martinez, who has lots of energy and great ideas.

At the Soupline Supper, guests carrying plastic trays collected little cups of soup from a line of community leaders dispensing yumminess of all kinds from giant pots. There were also bread, salad, and desserts, plus a silent auction and a raffle. The room was packed, and I saw people I know from various aspects of Santa Cruz life, including my grandparents and our neighbors and some former UCSC colleagues.

Shooting this event was really fun, though I did wonder why so many people gave me funny looks once the desserts started coming out. Turned out I’d gotten chocolate sauce all over my face and neck when I’d sampled a cookie while taking pictures in the kitchen. People thought I had been injured somehow; chocolate looks a lot like dried blood. I am laughing about this now but at the time it was quite embarrassing to discover that I’d spent over an hour walking around looking like I’d fallen down the front stairs.

I share this with you to let you know that it’s not a good idea to eat while you’re holding a camera. Ever since that day, when I am offered food while shooting, I put the camera down before I start eating. But if you are a photographer who is trying to produce looks of confusion and curiosity in your subjects, smearing reddish-brown stuff all over your person before you shoot is a reliable method.

Despite my discomfiture, I got a lot of photos I was very happy with. Here are just a few of them. There are lots more, and you can see them by visiting redbatprints.com, our gallery site.

Congratulations to the Homeless Services Center and the amazing Stacey Plant for organizing an extraordinarily successful and delicious fundraiser!